Pallets, and wooden pallets in particular, are commonly used to transport merchandise, equipment, or other loads in manufacturing, fabrication, warehousing, and distribution operations. Typical operations involve first loading a pallet with item(s), hereinafter referred to as a “load,” that are to be transported. Once loaded, the pallets are moved by forklift trucks or similar machinery to a destination that may be the final destination for the load, or an intermediate destination for the load such as a holding area or a truck. As is well understood, it is common to move the pallet and associated load on multiple occasions when transporting a load from an origin location to a destination location. Generally, a pallet is unloaded at a final destination location, at which point it is generally desirable to re-use the pallet.
Given that pallets are commonly moved using heavy equipment, such as forklift trucks, damage to pallets is a common occurrence. Such damage may result from various causes, such as inserting the forks of the forklift truck in a manner that results in a fork hitting a side of the pallet, dropping a pallet, and running over a pallet, to name but a few. If a damaged pallet is re-used to transport another load, the likelihood that a failure of the pallet may occur increases significantly. Generally, such a failure results in economic loss. In order to avoid such a loss, a pallet may be inspected and repaired if damaged. However, such inspections, if performed, are often visual inspections performed by an individual on a pallet-by-pallet basis. If the individual performing the inspections notices damage to a pallet, the pallet is separated from other pallets for further evaluation that may result in the pallet being repaired or discarded.
While visual inspection is useful in determining visually damaged pallets, some damaged pallets may continue to be re-used even following a visual inspection. Such a damaged pallet may pass the visual inspection due to a number of reasons. For example, an individual performing an inspection may fail to notice a defect in a pallet. Additionally, the structural integrity of a pallet may be compromised without having a noticeable visible defect. For example, a pallet may have a cracked board that may not be readily visible during the visual inspection. When such pallets are re-used, they may fail when a load is placed on them. As mentioned above, such a failure may cause economic loss due to, for example, breakage of one or more items within the load, damage to item(s) loaded on surrounding pallets, damage to equipment near the pallet, and lost time and resources from the clean-up associated with the failure. Furthermore, an individual may be injured as a result of such a failure of a pallet.